I believe that part of the problem mentioned lies in the fact that almost every study-program out there teaches facts and patterns according to which facts can be manipulated, but more often than not leaves out the underlying concepts or in simpler terms teaches what to think, not how to think. As much as I hated (mainly due to the tedious assignments and incompetent teacher) the Theory of Knowledge course we were forced to take, I'm glad it placed such a great emphasis on doubt and necessity to reason.

I remember reading somewhere that people working at CERN are exposed to approximately the same radiation dosage as people working at airlines (e.g. pilots and stewards), which is still greatly inside the "safe" zone. I can't quote the source from the top of my head though. And Gamma-Scout actually looks interesting and sometime-in-the-future affordable.

If we were completely selfless beings uploading with lack of general sentience could actually be very beneficial to quite a few. And again using a science-fiction example - think Bene Gesserit. Them passing along and accessing genetic memory isn't all that different from the general concept of non(or semi)-sentient uploading and it is one of the main reasons why the Bene Gesserit are a force to be considered.

Yes, they do not know how to think.

About the Bene Gesserit - they have this genetic memory only as a (quite mighty, to be honest) supplement to their ordinary human consciousness. It is more like having one and a half mind (or simply having an external plug-in memory bank which you got from your predecessors) or something along these lines, I guess.